Walk Like An Egyptian

[cornerofmadness]

I celebrated it wrong by driving all over BUT I had a very good day. It didn't start great. Hail woke me up at 3 in the morning and then I woke at 630 which was about 15 minutes before I had to get up so I was out the door nice and early and did well for the first 50 miles of the drive and then I am shocked I didn't fall asleep at the wheel and die. I had to get out, fuel up the car, try to walk and around. Stopped at Tim Horton's for my usual order which was double the original price (I'm like did it go up since last weekend?)

All my parking angst was for nothing. Both Cosi and the Metro library had UNDERGROUND parking. No wonder I couldn't see it on google earth. I haven't been to either since like 1997 so what do I remember? Cosi had a snare drum with a heart rate monitor which made the drum beat with your heart. Yes I played with that and the laser harp while waiting for my friends.

We really did have the best time at the King Tut exhibit. It was well conceived and reminded me of the Pompeii one at Pittsburgh's version of COSI (science institute) This is a ticketed event and it opens with you going thru a temple door with your lecture wands and that part wasn't that exciting to me as I know all about the Rosette stone, a fair amount about Carter and Carnarfon and much more about Tut. I was getting antsy and wondering why was I still standing here. Did I really want to see a little movie?

Turns out there was no choice (like in Pomepii) you had to sit through that and that ushered you into the main exhibit. In retrospect it was pretty cool (my impatience aside) How they did the coffin room was pretty cool. You could see the shadow of the coffins behind glass and on the glass was a little projection from Carter's journals. It made it look like he and his team were inside the tomb. The lights slowly came up to let us see the full thing bright and beautiful.

Now, let me be clear, these are all replicas but they are splendid ones. From there you're ushered into more where they had quite a bit of the first room's treasures and then from there into all four shrines, the sarcophagus, the famous mask and then SO much more, alabaster canopic jars, gold chariots and thrones, sandels, weapons, shabtis, instruments, a 3-D CT scan of Tut and it was easy to get carried away.

Now I've seen that gold throne before. What I haven't see was its foot stool and some of the found sandals both of which had art of Nubians and Asians so he could walk on them as they were conquered people. Yikes, my dude. Also something I have never heard of in all the many MANY Tut programs I've watched where a series of little sarcophagi found with him, filled with premature babies, most likely his daughters, and a miniature one that contained a lock of his grandmother's hair as a keepsake.

So I learned things, always a good day. Also there outside the exhibit was a wall of ancient Egyptian inspired art and one of the winning pieces was by someone formerly from my writers group so nice to see that.

We also peeked into some other things like the dinosaurs and an exhibit on extremophiles like my faves the tardigrades. I might also have bought a stuffed triceratops (I shouldn't be left unsupervised). The only negative here was the Atomic Cafe were I couldn't even figure out how to order. It said use touch screens but I didn't see any. Was I supposed to use my phone? I had no idea and there were too many to even bother with. I went and got a muffin from the coffee shop.

You MIGHT get pictures tomorrow or Monday. You couldn't use flash so my camera compensates by a slow shutter speed but that is very easy to blur. My nerve damaged hand shakes so I don't do well in low light photography. AND my camera's battery bit it so the rest are on my phone which never lets me access them to share. And it probably is blurred too. I'm too tired to even look.


When I left I was glad we went early because the garage was filled by the time we left. By sheer luck I found the alley to the parking garage for the library and I'm pretty sure I saw Morlocks lurking down where I had to park. No lie It was underground FOUR levels. I'm like damn dudes, how deep did you undermine?

This is the first time the Ohioana book festival was at this enormous library but I see why. I think it's also the first time back in person since Covid. It took up an entire floor of the library. About seven rows of authors. WOW. I should not have been allowed in by myself. I swore I'd only buy one or two. I knew I was lying but you know I thought, maybe?

I did get to see Leanne Renee Hieber (check out her books) plus several other authors I already know. I also impulse bought several books, including one historical mystery based on the first female sheriff in Ohio in the 1920s. I didn't even know we HAD those (I wanted this as much as a reminder to go look her up as I wanted more historical mysteries even though they are one of my faves). I also got a gothic cult horror which is like my third this year because apparently that's what I'm about in 2023. I also got a mystery with very interesting family dynamics because you know I love those (twins separated when one was adopted and the other aged out of the foster system) One fantasy author got me because her friend was so excited for her I had to check it out (also she had amazing nails, hair, loves anime and is a teacher).

I sat in the young adult writing panel. If there was one thing I thought they could do better is maybe they should actually have a bit of a planned talk about the subject and not just answering random questions. One thing I did get from it that I never thought about (and might forget if I hold it til tomorrow's writerly ways) one of them works through an overactive self-editor that keeps her from getting into the flow by making the text white so the only way she knows she's got words is the red misspelled underlines. If she can't see it, her self editor can't stop her until she's done for the night and converts it back to color.

You know now that I think about it, I didn't buy a book from a man I don't think. Huh.

I decided against going shopping since it was 330 and you couldn't go back south from where I was because the road was out. Luckily I k now this city and went around that. I didn't stop at the casino either because 330 was too early for dinner and I was still exhausted. I drove the 40 miles to Chillicothe to eat at 430. I thought Olive Garden, haven't been there in years but I'm too tired to think about food. I get there. 430 as I said. There were SO MANY people you couldn't even wait in the lobby. They were waiting outside the building.

Screw that. There is so much food in this town. I went for Mexican and then back to Tim Horton's for the SAME order as in the morning (as I was still trying to fall asleep) AND it was the same price as usual. So why the hell did Circleville's Timmy's charge me double? I don't know.

All in all a good day and if the Tut exhibit rolls into your town, it's worth the time.

Comments

[spikedluv]

Wow, that exhibit sounds really interesting! I'm glad you found parking and had a good time. (I wonder if that Tim Horton's did actually charge you double by accident? It's times like that I wish I'd gotten a receipt so I could check.)

[cornerofmadness]

It really was interesting.

I have no idea what was up with that Tim's. If it was in Columbus I'd wonder if it's the rent driving up the price but Circleville is nowheresville

[dewladen]

seven whole rows of authors!!! that sounds like a dream! it would also be a giant trap for my wallet as well haha. glad that you had fun!!

[cornerofmadness]

My wallet wasn't happy but I sure was

[under_the_silk_tree]

What an amazing day. The exhibit and the book fair sounded like so much fun.

[cornerofmadness]

thanks they were